_The answer of_ HENRY WALTON _to the Bill of Complaint of_ JOHN RASTELL
_gentleman_.
The said Henry Walton by protestation saith, that the said goods in the
bill of complaint of the said John Rastell mentioned, be not of so great
value as in his said bill of complaint is supposed. And saith that the
said bill of complaint is uncertain, and insufficient in the law to be
answered unto, and the matter therein contained feigned and craftily
imagined, to the intent to put the said Henry Walton to great costs and
expenses. Nevertheless, for answer and declaration of the truth, the
said defendant saith that it appeareth by the bill of the said
complainant that he hath no cause of action in this honourable court,
for it appeareth by his bill of complaint that the said goods be
recovered in the King's Court holden before the Mayor and Aldermen of
the City of London, according to the custom of the said City. And
further, the defendant saith that he brought an action of debt against
the said John Rastell of 40s. in the said court; and he, the said Henry
Walton, having in his own keeping the said goods in the said bill of
complaint supposed, attached them in his own hands, according to the
custom of the said City; which goods were afterwards, by the
commandment of the said court, by the said John Wilkinson and Thomas
Curtis, were praised at 35s. 9d. And where the said John Rastell, in his
said bill of complaint, saith that the goods aforesaid were praised much
under their value, the said Henry Walton saith that they were praised to
as much as they at the time of the praisement were worth. And where the
said complainant in his said bill of complaint saith that he oweth not
the said defendant the said 40s. and is without remedy, the said Henry
Walton will aver that the said John Rastell oweth him the said 40s. And
also the said Henry saith that the said John Rastell might have come
into the said court, holden before the Mayor and Aldermen aforesaid,
within the year and the day according to the custom, and there to have
put in sureties, and so to have dissolved the attachment, but hath
suffered and s....psed his time. And the said Henry Walton shall aver
that the said goods were of no more value than they were priced at, for
they were rotten and torn players' garments. Without that that the said
Henry Walton craftily or falsely, and by subtle advice of his counsel,
commenced the said action against the said John Rastell, in manner and
form as he in his said bill untruly hath alleged. And without that that
anything being material or effectual in the said bill, otherwise than in
the said answer of the said Henry, is alleged is true. And in as much as
the said goods be lawfully recovered in the King's Court, holden before
the Mayor and Aldermen in the City of London aforesaid, being a Court of
Record, the which record cannot be undone without errer or attaint,
therefore the said Henry Walton prayeth to be dismissed out of this
honourable court, with his reasonable costs and expenses for his
wrongful vexation, &c.